Wilted Flower
by Azecreth
Summary: At critical points in our lives, where we waver between paths to follow to the future, it is random encounters which can end up defining us. They can set us on a better path to light...or to darkness. This is something that Blake knows all too well.


**A/N: Story inspired by the cover image, which I believe is from tumblr. I take no credit for it.**

* * *

It was intoxicating. The air, the atmosphere surrounding the rally. A solid mass of people marched and advanced, waving signs as they joined in solidarity for a common cause. The feeling was practically electric, and it captivated the imagination of those there.

That was all that Blake Belladonna could think as she stood amidst them, hard to notice due to how little she was compared to all the adults around. She moved practically unnoticed, yet her voice was definitely heard amongst the loudest of them when she chose to speak.

For how short she was though, she clutched a sign tightly, raising it to do what she could to voice her support for the rally that she was attending. With how much she did though, it was a miracle that she had a voice left at all.

Blake was practically a fixture of these rallies, youthful idealism taking her to the front lines, to protest a situation that she saw was unfair, and with no one to stop her from doing so. It might not be the wisest decision, but nothing could dissuade her from attending.

"Faunus are people too! Faunus are people too! Faunus are people too!"

The cries and chants rang out, led by a brave few who organized it all in turn. This was a nonviolent protest like so many before it, and speakers brought people to gravitate about those people as they led the way, bravely taking charge as they went on their march.

This particular rally was headed down towards the government buildings, a demonstration for the grievances that the Faunus population of Vale had. While they had won the Faunus Rights Revolution, such benefits had proven fleeting. People's minds would not be changed overnight, and soon things had begun to return to the way they were before. But nobody was blind, and the fact that that had been recognized was why they were out here now.

It was a cloudy day out, but that did not deter anyone. So long as things stayed the way they were, no one would be swayed, not when passions were this high. It was an important issue, and Blake was happy to see how many people recognized that. The more, the better.

As usual though, the protests earned their fair share of opposition. There were thugs, hecklers, people there to just insult them and try to get them to go home. It was hardly unusual, much as Blake might hate it. They would just have to show them how wrong they were about Faunus, that was all.

"Damn animals, why don't you go back to your pens." "Freaks!" "The only good Faunus is a dead Fanus!"

The words hurt, Blake knew that for sure. But so long as she was here, amongst all these people, it was easy to ignore them. Those people didn't matter, and they would all see how wrong they were, sooner or later.

Then a ripple ran through the crowd, and Blake moved on to tip toes, jumping to try and look over people so she could see what was going on. It was difficult to do so, but with a bit of quick maneuvering and a hop onto a lamp post, she was able to manage.

What she saw sent chills down her spine, her eyes widening at the sight. It was familiar, but most certainly unwelcome. And she knew that what had been going on here was over. At least, it had entered a new stage.

A line of metal and armored figures advanced against the demonstrators inexorably. They were robots brought in from Atlas to serve as support for the police force. Now they had been sent in against the protestors, with riot shields held in firm ranks. If there was one good point, it was that shooting hadn't begun immediately, indicating that they at least had higher directives.

The two groups collided, demonstrators moving almost up to meet the robots as agitation grew. For as much insults and the like that were thrown, none of them would be effective here. Robots were unswayed by logic, emotions, which was why it had been a smart choice by the Vale government to use them. It prevented the police from joining the demonstrations themselves.

Jumping off of the street lamp, Blake ran over to join them, sign waving as she strove to make herself know. "Equal right! Equal right!" Her chanting joined the crowd, calling for the right to protest like most people would have.

The mood was tense, and yet she really thought that they had a chance. If they could just keep this up, that would show people that they had real problems. Things could start to turn around at last.

Then the shot rang out.

It was never really discovered who fired the gun. Later, Blake became certain that it had been the White Fang, but there was never any proof of that. The only thing for sure was that it hadn't been the robots, but even their records could be tampered with.

Regardless of who did it though, the result was the same. As people screamed, moving away from the source of the gunshot, the robots stirred to life. Red eyes glowed ominously as limbs moved, guns presented and aimed towards the crowd with the riot shields proving no hindrance to that as they began to slowly advance.

"Disperse immediately. Return to your homes. Disperse immediately. Return to your homes." The words were said in a friendly tone, some token effort to making the things seem not intimidating, but ineffective nonetheless.

Yet even with what had happened, the people didn't back down, and Blake with them. It was far too late for that, and now it seemed as though there could be only one ending to this whole thing. Still they chanted, picked up in places even as events moved along anyways.

"Shame. Shame. Shame. Shame."

Such words did nothing to the robots though, and with the continued resistance they opened fire. Rubber bullets and such went slamming into the crowd, specially designed to overwhelm Aura and allow for a quick takedown. It was unnecessary though, since there weren't that many in the crowd who knew how to use Aura.

"Hey, stop it," she cried as she ran forward to join in those pushing against the riot shields, but it was no use. They couldn't compete with the strength of a robot, especially as it's companions came to it's aid. And there were a lot more behind it, ready to assist in getting rid of the demonstrators.

She helped for moments before she was shoved away, sent to the ground and skinning her knees in the process. "Aaaah!" Her sign clattered out of her hands, and it took her a moment to recover from that, to get over the shock of what had happened.

Looking around, a tremble ran through her heart as she suddenly realized how _big_ everything was, the surge and crush of people around her as they fought back against the robots or fled. The sound of gunshots rang like staccato-like in the air, and she jumped as she saw people crash down nearby, taken down by the robots.

Her eyes widened in terror as she spun around, stumbling to her feet as she did the only thing she could do; flee. She wove past people and grabbed her sign, before running away. She didn't know where she would go, she just knew that she had to get away.

Breathing filled her ears, heavy and hard as she grunted against continual impact with people's legs, simply running away. It was hard to see, hard to think, and overwhelming terror held sway over her mind. A fight or flight response, too powerful to be ignored, and she couldn't fight this.

She was not the only one doing so, placards and signs thrown to the ground as people fled the scene and the violence that had sprung up. They overran the people on the fringes, the hecklers and such, and went on to the streets beyond.

Blake didn't know how long she ran, or where she had ended up once her energy finally began to fade and she couldn't run anymore. At last she came to a stop, practically collapsing as she doubled over, chest heaving with her hands on her knees. No one bothered her, for which she could be grateful, but at the moment it didn't make a difference to her.

Tears budded in the corners of her eyes as she stayed where she was, small droplets rolling down her cheeks, to fall from her chin to the broken concrete below. A choked sob escaped at the same time, her sign clattering to the ground with a thud. What else was she supposed to do?

"Why?" she spat to herself, cheeks flushed and her body shuddering in repressed fear, anger, and more. "Why?"

She didn't...she didn't understand. It was for a good cause, it was right, and just. So why would they keep stopping them, why break up the protests? Why did people keep mistreating and hurting them for no reason? Sure, she had cat ears, but she was the same as any other person. Why did it matter?

Though she was able to stand up, she couldn't stop the tears from falling, nor the general aura of sadness that hung around her form. "We didn't do anything wrong." And as far as she cared, they hadn't. No one could tell her otherwise.

With nowhere to go, she lurched into motion, staggering forward as she turned around and grabbed her sign. There was nothing on her mind except the images of what she had seen, replaying again and again. She had been in her share of these sorts of things, but this was the first time that she had seen it turn out like that with violence and fighting.

It was all she could think about, see, and her head remained bowed as she stumbled along. People falling, unconscious and dead, the monolithic and implacable figures of the robots advancing forward. They hadn't even had a chance to fight back, and why would they need to? No one had expected what would happen.

At last Blake found herself...back where she had started, or close to it. She just had to see, had to know how it ended. Or rather, she got close. The robots were keeping the streets blocked, with debris and ambulances beyond it as they kept civilians away.

With the robots in the way, Blake came to a stop some distance from the cordon. Her head remained bowed, sign dropping once more as she looked on the scene. They had failed. For all their trying, they had failed to do anything, to make a difference.

She jumped a little when she felt water hit her head, the first of a downpour that began then. Her clothes became soaked in rapid order, pools of water forming on the ground. But she didn't move, instead just standing there as thunder crashed above. She didn't know what to do, how she should go on. With what she had seen, experienced, was it even possible?

Blake couldn't figure it out.

* * *

A man in a white trench coat, orange hair poking out from beneath a bowler hat which sluiced rain away from his face, ran along in a crouch. He held a cane in his grasp, not using it for walking as he slipped past the line of robots, and into the area beyond.

Now, normally Roman wasn't the sort of person for this kind of work. Taking stuff from what was left over of some rally wasn't really his style, and most of the time there wouldn't be anything worthwhile around anyway.

But he had heard of the clash going on, and there might be the opportunity to salvage something. He'd fallen on a bit of hard time recently, and getting a couple military weapons from a torn apart robot would be useful. Not that there was much hope for that, but one could dream, right? Certainly he did.

It didn't seem as though that would be the case though. This place had been pretty thoroughly cleaned up, which he was quick to figure out as he surveyed the place. That was very unfortunate, definitely, but he wouldn't give up just yet. He had come too far to not profit from it.

So he got to work, kicking over the debris as he looked. He wasn't sure what he was looking for, but he would know it when he found it. So even as the rain continued to hammer against the top of his hat, he searched. At least it was easy, even if it was time consuming.

"Hey, what are you doing?!"

Roman grimaced at the call, prepared to run away and to make his noble flight before he could be caught by the police or something. But even in this rain and the din because of it, he could tell that something was off. That voice had sounded really young, beyond what even he would expect for a cop.

Turning around, he readied Melodic Cudgel just in time to catch a blow from...was that a sign?

"Watch it," he grunted as he spun his cane, batting away the weapon as he glanced down to see some kid attacking him, soaked to the bone because of the rain as she swung with all her might. Of course, he wasn't in any real danger, and he effortlessly blocked her attacks as they came at him without pause.

After a few moments though they began to slow down, presumably because she couldn't keep that sort of thing going for long. Roman could only sigh in relief, with the ability to relax in the rain that fell down. This was not how he had expected his day going.

* * *

Blake's eyes burned, lashing out in blind fury as she attacked the strange man that she had followed beyond the robot line. While she had been grateful for that, it had quickly morphed into horror at what he had been doing once there.

How...how could he just do that? It was horrible, an insult to everyone who had been fighting for a good cause here. And now he had just come in to try and take stuff from them? Who did he think he was?

So she had intervened, picking up another sign and charging in to try and stop him. Yet for all her effort he had no problem in stopping her, and she was fairly certain that she hadn't done any damage, at least if appearance was any indication. Her heart fell, even though she had known that it probably wouldn't have worked.

At last it came to an end, a quick strike sending soaked wood spinning from her grasp, the sign clattering to the wet ground, and practically collapsing in on itself due to how wet the material was.

"Look kid," the man in the suit said as he pushed her away. "Beating up runts like yourself isn't my style. So get lost before I really get annoyed."

She flinched, even though there was silent gratitude at not being hit. But while it was there now, she didn't care. So what if she was hit, or beaten up? It would be no less than all the other people here had suffered, and she couldn't let this man in a white trench coat have his way, not in this time and in this place.

"You can't," she protested weakly, her tears mixing with the rain to the point where she couldn't recognize the difference anymore. "This is...You can't steal their stuff!"

Perhaps almost inevitably, he scoffed, shaking his head as he twirled that cane of his. "Why not, kitty? Who's going to stop me?" And she had to admit, it wasn't as if the authorities were going to do so, judging by their lack of immediate presence.

Yet that was something that she couldn't accept, no matter how impossible it was. "I...I will," she replied, voice cracking with sheer emotion as she faced him down.

That earned another chuckle, the man rolling his eyes, though it was hard to see past the downpour. "Yeah, good luck with that," he told her sarcastically. Even he could see how baseless her statements were, and it slowly chipped away at her already cracked resolve.

Then suddenly he swung into motion, stepping past her as his cane lashed out. A cry of surprise escaped her lips as it hooked low and slammed into her legs, kicking them out from under her and sending her down to the ground with a thud. Water splashed up around her as she tried, and failed, to catch herself.

"Owwww," Blake whined, soggy ears twitching as she winced against the pain that radiated from skinned knees and from her palms. It wasn't overly bad, but with the misery she was already experiencing it only added to it.

Meanwhile, the man in the suit brushed water droplets from his hat, even though that didn't really affect the situation at hand with how wet it was. "Like I said, stay out of my way." Apparently he would have no problem hurting her and leaving her for the police to find if she pushed it.

Whimpering, Blake managed to haul herself back to her feet, the rain stinging against her injured skin as she kept herself from looking at the stranger. "Why," she lamented to herself. "Why does this sort of thing happen? How can people like you get away with this?"

The man shrugged, still taking the time to answer her even though he had no reason to do so. "Because the world isn't fair. And the sooner a dirty animal like you realizes that, the better off you'll be."

It was just like before, like those hecklers at the rallies. He was no better than them, that much Blake realized. And yet his words rang in her battered soul and mind, providing an influence that might not have otherwise come to rest in a different situation. Still, she did not heed it immediately.

"That's not fair," she protested, the fire of anger flickering once more as her hands clenched. The dying gasp of her emotions and feelings. "That's not right." She couldn't live in a world like that, not with any choice in the matter.

"Welcome to the world, freak," the man said with a chuckle, raising his cane in the air. "Life isn't fair. If you want something, you gotta go out and take it. And if people don't like it, you go and do it anyway."

That was horrible, abominable, and yet Blake couldn't deny that for some reason it struck a chord inside of her. With everything that had happened and that she had seen, was he right? Nobody liked the Faunus, or respected them. If she wanted to make a change, to make things better, was that the only way?

Well, it would be only fair. They seemed to have no problem using force, so why should she? Someone had to hold them accountable, and if the government wasn't willing to listen, then maybe...she would have to make them listen. It was a scary thought, but it sent shocks up her spine nonetheless. Could she really do this?

"...Fine," she muttered then, bowing her head as she faced away from the man. "I'll show you. All of you humans. I'll show you what the Faunus can do." Her voice trembled with determined certainty, a burning resolve that lit as her mind reached a decision.

That earned a snort, the man glancing back at her at the same time. "Yeah, sure you are," he replied, condescension dripping almost visibly. "Well go ahead, show me that any of you dumb animals have more than a collective brain cell between your entire species. I'll be waiting." With that he walked off, leaving Blake alone in the rain, which showed no sign of ending any time soon.

Less than a week later, Blake Belladonna was the newest member of the White Fang.


End file.
